Chelsea is reportedly considering selling a stake in its successful women's team according to reports.
Bloomberg has reported that there are investors interested in buying a potential $200 million (approximately £159 million) for a stake in the Chelsea women's team although the Blues are not said to want to sell the women's team outright in their case.
One of those businesses said to be keen is Mercury/13, a company set up by Victoire Cogevina Reynal which acquired Italian side Como Women earlier this year.
The deal could be compared to Michele Kang's 52% majority ownership of Olympique Lyonnais' successful women's team while John Textor (the overall owner of Olympique Lyonnais) keeps a 48% share. Incidentally, OL manager Sonia Bompastor has been rumoured to be the preferred successor to Emma Hayes.
Having an outside company controlling a football club's women's team would be unusual for English football although it is less common for a women's side to dissociate or rebrand.
For example, the Bristol City women's team (recently relegated from the WSL) in fact began life as Bristol Rovers while having been Bristol Academy in the interim.
Similarly, AFC Fylde Women were previously Preston North End WFC and more recently Coventry United became part of Rugby Borough FC.
There's also the case of London City Lionesses who split from Millwall and are now also owned by Michele Kang.
